Slitherine

Hi!

I started a intensive test on the RC4 campaign and here are some of my thougts.
I played on average level, because I think this what most people will do and thats where the game shoul be balanced best. Sometimes I replayed a scenario to get better results or to test alternative tactics.

Game stability:

Not much to report. The only thing I recognised three or four times is that it looked like if the AI Turn was finished and my turn started but I had to push a button to really be able to start my turn. (I had no game crash in 100+ hours playing!)

Campaign management:

During the first scenarios its only possible to update your units or to give them elite replacements. Maybe its possible to increase the income a little bit or to lower the elite replacement costs. Later in the game the balance is better and your able to make both things except after the fall of Russia. Its very frustrating that before the Eastern US scenario you are only able to update a part of your army and large parts of your core army are outdated. (You can update Pz IVD to Pz IVJ or BF 109E to BF 109k, but against the modern american units they are chanceless. You must update them to Me 262 or King-Tigers to stay competitive and thats not possible.) I would suggest to give 5000-7000 extra points to the player before the US Eastern Coast scenario to let him be competitive. The bonus (SE) units are nice to have, but there should be a hint after the third unit, that the player has now the maximum of those units. (I got 1 Grenadier, 1 Gebirgsjäger and 1 Tank Unit, is that normal? I would find it perfect, that the player could choose which one he wants. (This most not be only SE Units, there could also be a special air force unit (JV 44) or something else.)

Comfort:

Some of the functions are only reachable when you read the manual, like the rename unit screen or the unit screen. Maybe its possible to include a direct way to do that. What I really would suggest is the implementation of a repair all units button in the campaign. (One button with elite replacement and one without.)

Additional Feature:

What i really would suggest is a disband unit possibility to gain extra prestige points. (Maybe at a 50 % ratio of the original costs.)

Game Balance in General:

Most of the scenarios are pretty balanced and its possible to achieve a decisive victory on nearly alle maps after replaying and optimising own tactics. (Except US East Coast, i will post on this topic later.)

AI:

This is the only minor negative aspect of the game, because there are two big problems with playing against it. The AI neglects the cities in the deep. Most of them are not defended, so you can plunder them with a single unit. (Fast Infantry or armour unit) With this tactic you can get many extra prestige points. The other AI problem is the possibility to show them an easy target and organise an ambush. I have seen several times during that the AI attacks a Infantry unit on its vehicles (fast move), but leaving a city for that. So there is a damage on the players unit, but it makes a difference to attack a unit on entrench level 0 or 4+. Sometimes the city where the unit was before is completly abondoned. (With this method its possible to penetrate very fast and to gain cities earlier.)

Bugs(?):

I won the moscow scenario with a decisive victory after the official timeline. (1 turn later) If you have three units to attack with, it depends on the sequence/order of the attacks even if the unit has the lowest possible entrechment level. (Tested several times, not depending on mass attack.) Also seems to apply that you can influence the output of a combat if you move another unit before. (Somewhere else on the map, also not according to mass attack rules.)

So thats my first input, I will post on every scenario within the campaign later.

Well I've got good news and bad news.

The bad news? You weren't the first person to reach these conclusions.

The good news?

1. All scenarios that lead to USA East Coast have had their prestige amounts massively increased to enable the player to make significant and necessary upgrades. For example, Sealion 42, because that scenario itself is so difficult and costly, yields 12500 prestige, not counting any prestige the player has already saved up!

2. As for repair all... that can be a dangerous item to implement, especially since the only 'undo' is to load a previous save file. Your best solution is to simply use the hot keys because if you hold down the hot key, you can just click on units and they are continuously reinforced as long as you hold down the hot key. (You don't have to single click buttons every time!)

3. You can disband units for 100% prestige, but only if you do so during the deployment phase.

4. As for USA East Coast... well that's unfortunate design. There was simply not enough time allotted considering the required distances to travel. But a major victory is not required to progress forward, so it's not a campaign ending issue (literally!).